The invention relates to a loading wagon for the transport, storage and discharge of bulk material, comprising a wagon frame supported on on-track undercarriages and a wagon body connected to the wagon frame, there being provided in the base region of the wagon body a base conveyor belt having a drive with a transfer conveyor belt which projects over the end of the wagon frame, has an elevated discharge end with respect to the wagon frame, and which is provided with a drive, with a storing or transporting direction running from the base conveyor belt to the transfer conveyor belt, and comprising an outlet opening for discharging the bulk material on to the track.
A loading wagon of this kind which is movable on a track by means of on-track undercarriages is already known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,617, this being predominantly used in track maintenance operations. In order to transport and store fairly large amounts of bulk material, several of these loading wagons are preferably combined to form a loading train, a continuous conveyor belt path being formed by means of the mutually overlapping conveyor devices. This enables the individual wagon bodies of the whole train to be loaded and unloaded quickly and above all automatically. It also enables bulk material, such as spoil from a track bed cleaning machine for instance, to be transported through in a simple manner. The conveyor device is composed of a base conveyor belt arranged in the base of the wagon body and a transfer conveyor belt following it in the transporting direction. The known loading wagon may also be used for ballasting a track and is provided for this purpose with a discharge device having a chute-like outlet opening. This discharge device is arranged at the front end of the loading wagon--with respect to the transporting direction--and in one form of construction is designed as a self-propelling individual vehicle or as a discharging wagon which is coupled with the bulk material loading wagon when required and the discharge chutes of which are supplied with ballast by way of the conveyor device. In a different variant (FIGS. 4 and 5), the discharge device is secured directly to the wagon frame immediately preceding the wagon body, outlet openings being situated on either side of the conveyor device. A V-shaped deflecting element which is vertically adjustable by means of a hydraulic drive is provided in this area immediately above the conveyor device, in order in its lowered position to deflect the ballast transported on the conveyor device to the left and right into the outlet openings or discharge chutes and to discharge it into the track bed. However, this known design is disadvantageous particularly in track curves, as in these the transfer conveyor belt is displaced with respect to the outlet openings.
The object underlying the invention is to improve a loading wagon of the type specified in the introduction to the effect so that, with a constructionally simplified design of the wagon, the discharging of bulk material onto the track in precisely measured amounts and in a controlled manner may take place.